We Cannot Forget, We Cannot Be Fooled, We Cannot Let It Happen Again *Open Thread*

I saw a very disturbing headline at The Times of Israel this week, “Almost Half of Israelis Say Another Holocaust Is Possible.” As I reflected on that, thinking how incredibly sad that is that, after all that happened, after the slaughter-beyond-imagining that occurred not all that long ago, that so many Israelis fear this could happen again.

But then I started thinking about some of the things that have been going on here in this country, with mainstream denominations like the Presbyterian Church of the USA “divesting” from Israel, falling for the BS of the BDS movement. Make that the PALESTINIAN BDS movement. It may have been a small group of activists, as this article claims, but it happened nonetheless.

BDS isn’t the only problem, though. Anti-Semitism is on the rise in a MASSIVE way in Europe, lending even more credence to the fears of Israelis. From JNS:

[…] The report shows a 38-percent rise in violent anti-Semitic attacks in 2014 on that continent, with a total of 766 incidents ranging from assaults with weapons to vandalism against Jewish property, compared to 554 such incidents in 2013.

The uptick in European anti-Semitism has been partly attributed to increased hostility to Israel as a result of last summer’s war with Hamas, as well as the “general climate of hatred and violence” instigated by the rise of the Islamic State terror group in the Middle East, the report’s researchers wrote. Last year was the worse year in terms of anti-Semitism in Europe since 2009, when there was also an Israeli military operation in Gaza.

Jews feel like “they are facing an explosion of hatred toward them as individuals, their communities, and Israel, as a Jewish state,” wrote the researchers, pointing to the often blurred line between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. Some of the protests that were held against Israel’s Operation Protective Edge “deteriorated into violence while almost all of them included signs with hurtful slogans that included comparisons between Israel and the Nazis and the blaming of IDF soldiers for anything wrong under the sun,” they added.

“Synagogues were targeted, not Israeli embassies,” said Dina Porat, a historian who edited the report, according to Yedioth Ahronoth.

The report was released on the day that Israel marked Yom HaShohah, the Jewish state’s Holocaust Remembrance Day (which begins Wednesday night and lasts through Thursday). Around the world, there have been commemorations of the 70th anniversaries of the end of World War II and the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Another poll conducted by the Forsa Institute, also released Wednesday, showed that about 42 percent of Germans no longer want to revisit their country’s Nazi past. […] (Click here to read the rest.)

And that is why we cannot forget. We cannot forget the horrors that were leashed upon this world against the Jewish people. As more and more in this country are trying to lead us toward always viewing Muslims as victims (like this disturbing example of a teacher’s assignment in Wisconsin), we cannot be fooled into turning a blind eye from Israel, and the Jewish people. We cannot risk another Holocaust.

Israelis have not forgotten. Every year, on April 15th, they take a moment to remember. And I mean, they all take a moment to remember, all across the country, all at the same time, all together as StandWithUs highlights (h/t Facebook friend):

Today is Yom HaShoah, the Holocaust memorial day in Israel. On this day, a single siren is sounded throughout the entire country of Israel. During the siren, everything, everywhere in the country stops. Here is a video of Israelis stopping their car in the middle of the road to stand in remembrance of the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazi regime when the siren sounds.

This act of a nation in unity remembering that mind-bogglingly horrible time in our human history literally moved me to tears…

Another Holocaust may not look like the last one, but at the rate we are going, with BDS, a President making nice with countries like Iran, supporting radical Islamist takeovers by groups like the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt whose two tenets are to wage jihad against the USA and Israel, the threat against Jews and Israel seem likelier than not.

And speaking of Iran, it is precisely this kind of threat that led PM Benjamin Netanyahu to make these comments about Iran on Holocaust Remembrance Day. From The Hill:

[…] The Times of Israel reported that Netanyahu’s remarks came during an emotional ceremony marking Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Yad Vashem museum, Israel’s official memorial to the genocide’s victims.

“The main lesson of the Second World War, for democracies, is that they cannot turn a blind eye to tyrannical regimes,” Netanyahu said.

“Ahead of World War II, the world attempted to appease the Nazis,” he continued. “They wanted quiet at any price, and the terrible price did come.”

Netanyahu argued that the U.S. and its allies were rushing into a dangerous pact with Iran concerning its atomic energy program.

Their haste, he added, mirrored mistakes Europe made when dealing with Nazi Germany during the late 1930s and early 1940s.

“The Iranian regime oppresses its people and plunges the Middle East into a tide of blood and suffering,” Netanyahu declared.

“The danger is there for all to see…and yet the blindness is vast,” he continued. […] (Click here to read the rest.)

Sadly, that it is. As the Presbyterian minister from centuries ago, Matthew Henry, said, “None so blind as those who will not see.” Seems we have no shortage of those who will not see, and not just for Israel, but for us as well.

26 Responses to “We Cannot Forget, We Cannot Be Fooled, We Cannot Let It Happen Again *Open Thread*”

Thank you, Amy, for your constant and steadfast support of Israel. The rise in anti-Semitism around the world is disconcerting at best, but that it has become so overt and widespread here at home is frightening. College campuses demand divestiture from Israel; radical groups like Code Pink support terrorist organizations like Hamas; former SoS Hillary Clinton criticizes Israel for their “lack of empathy with Palestinians;” and our president is entering into an agreement with a terrorist country to allow them nuclear weapons, weapons that will be aimed at Israel.

On top of all that, here in the US there is a growing movement of Muslim appeasement and an indoctrination of our children towards the religion of Islam while at the same time the rights of Christians are being trampled on.

These are frightening times in this country, and it’s the direct result of our president who, despite what he or anyone else might say, holds a special place in his heart for the Islamic religion of his youth, an intense hatred for Israel, and a dislike of his own country and its laws. He is a dangerous man for his beliefs and his ideology, and he’s taking all of us down the rabbit hole with him. Jews, however, should be the most fearful, with Christians right on our heels.

Thank you, Gina, for your powerful comment, and for your acknowledgement of my support for Israel. It is unwavering, of that you can be sure.

It is demoralizing to see how the Democrats now treat Israel, as if she is the bad guy in that neighborhood, the aggressor as opposed to a tiny nation being threatened on almost all sides. And I seem to recall that Clinton was singing a totally different tune when she was shoring up her Senatorial campaign support by reaching out to the Jewish community in NY. I guess she figures she doesn’t need them now, or that Obama and his minions have been so successful in isolating Israel with their support for countries who support Islamist terrorism, it just doesn’t matter anymore.

I couldn’t agree more – this is a frightening time in our country, and I hope whoever ends up the Rep. candidate stops letting the Dems get away with so much crap, the media be damned. It will be an uphill battle, but by God, this nation DESERVES a true champion. WE deserve a true champion.

I have been appalled and disgusted with the amount of “acceptable” anti-Semitism that is a part and parcel of this country these days. Particularly on our college campuses.

The media and the left pounces without mercy on any hint, even if its only in their minds, of racism or sexism but ignores the blatant anti-Semitism that has become so prevalent.

Given the number of people who are so frequently slain around the world in large numbers the people of Israel have every right to suspect that they could once again be subject to mass murder. Could another holocaust happen? I believe it could. Israel is after all surrounded by millions of people who seem to think that somehow their lives would be improved by the death of the Jews living in their midst.

I think what appalls me the most is the number of Jews in this country that cannot see the hate of their people that is rising once again. Just so must the Jews of Germany acted before the holocaust became too horrible to ignore.

Well said, Marge – you hit the nail on the head. I just do not see how so many American Jews can continue to support the policies of the Democratic Party, especially when it comes to our campuses and Israel. It is simply mind boggling, isn’t it?

You may have noticed an undercurrent, even in the obsolete media, that despite Barack Obama’s assertion to the contrary, Hillary Clinton is not, in fact, “likeable enough.” But because she’s the only game in town at the moment, the sycophants and hawkers of centralized remote-control government dutifully mouth the rebranding message emanating from the Clinton camp.

Many/most of the MSM will prop her up, and she needs it. But she isn’t their “beloved” like Obama was. No doubt they will smear and attack anyone on the right but they will not slobber all over Hillary like they did Obama. For which my nausea limit is very grateful.

And it will be difficult for anyone to take them seriously after seeing them scurry after Hillary’s “Scooby-Van”.

OHMYGOSH, ain’t that the truth? All those “journalists” hightailing it across the field to try and catch a “Hillary Sighting”? Wow, that was pathetic.

True enough Hillary isn’t their darling, though yeah – she is one of theirs. I mean, really, we already heard from Harry what “losers” everyone on the other side is, so yeah, they can trash them with reckless abandon regardless of the crap Hillary has done…

The minority leader of the Senate calling candidates for the other party “losers” is so tacky that you almost know who said it without being told. Harry Reid is a disgusting little toad and the Senate needs to be fumigated after he leaves.

It is amazing, isn’t it? If you had asked me three years ago if we would ever hear something like that out of Egypt, especially from someone seen to speak for the President, I would have thought you were spending WAY too much time in Colorado.

So, uh, I guess there has been some good out of having Obama in office after all. Ahaha, cough, cough, ahem…

Another hypocrite on the left that has a problem paying her taxes. A problem she would shred someone on the right for having. I am almost ashamed at my glee except I keep remembering her mocking the Romney’s “black” grandchild. Then I realize that she deserves my glee.

IRS Files Tax Lien Against MSNBC Host

Earlier this month the IRS placed a $70,000 tax lien against MSNBC host Melissa Harris Perry, who is perhaps best known for wearing tampon earrings and mocking Mitt Romney’s black grandchild. The lien seems to have come as a surprise to Harris-Perry, who once tweeted that she would pay her taxes “with a smile.”

You are not alone – I literally LOL when I saw the headline at Daily Caller yesterday. SO serves her right. And yeah, considering the unbelievably ignorant, hateful, malicious comments she has made, this is just desserts for her!